PDI 2010
Presented by Jason Huitt, ACNS
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Scenario A – “Technician in the Field”
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Scenario B – “Lab Management”
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Image Management
◦ PDI Interruption Policy : Stop me at any time!
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Welcome to the Windows Pre-installation
Environment (WinPE)
◦ Replaces the ubiquitous Win98 boot disk
◦ Includes a GUI with Notepad, Task Manager
◦ Includes a full network stack
 Built-in support for a plethora of network cards
◦ Version 3.0 includes Win7 / R2 code base
◦ Included in the Windows Automated Installation Kit
for Windows 7 (aka WAIK 2.0)
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http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=696DD665-9F76-4177-A81139C26D3B3B34&displaylang=en
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Imagex – Microsoft’s Ghost Buster
◦ Creates and deploys file-based images of entire
drive partitions
 Unlike sector-based images (CD, DVD, GHO)
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Images stored in Windows Image Format (WIM)
Uses single-instance file storage
Supports three levels of compression
Utility also mounts and manipulates WIM files
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Demo
◦ Booting into WinPE from flash drive
◦ Capturing an image
 imagex /capture c: x:\image.wim 1 “description”
◦ Managing partitions with Diskpart
◦ Deploying an image
 imagex /apply x:\image.wim 1 c:
First, create a bootable flash drive:
◦ Execute diskpart from an elevated command
prompt
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list disk
select disk x
clean
create partition primary
active
format quick fs=fat32
exit
See the following blog post for details:
◦ http://www.jasonhuitt.com/blog/post/Creating-a-BootableFlash-Drive-with-WinPE-and-Windows-Vista.aspx
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Full details on creating a custom WinPE image
available here:
 http://www.jasonhuitt.com/blog/post/Building-a-WinPE-30-Image-fromScratch.aspx
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Create a WinPE build workspace
Mount the WinPE boot image file (boot.wim)
Copy Imagex and any other tools you like into the boot.wim
Inject any NIC or storage drivers into the boot.wim
Unmount the boot image
Copy the contents of the ISO folder in the build workspace
to your flash drive
 OR
◦ Build an ISO image, and burn that to a CD or DVD
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Imaging from and to a network location will
be significantly faster than from a large flash
drive
Using Imagex to capture images is the ACNSpreferred method of performing litigation
holds for individual user workstation HDs
Windows Setup = WinPE + Imagex +
install.wim
◦ Imagex /capture c: x:\image.wim 1 “description”
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No DHCP? Not a problem!
◦ Netsh int tcp set address “local area connection”
static 129.82.x.y 255.255.255.0 129.82.x.1
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WinPE requires a working storage driver
◦ But, WinPE drivers can be loaded “on the fly”
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WinPE & Imagex fully compatible with XP,
Server 2003, Vista, 2008, Win7 & R2
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How can we scale this process up for
managing larger numbers of workstations?
Answer: Windows Deployment Services
◦ Supports remote boot of clients (requires DHCP)
◦ Ability to deploy “clean OS builds” as well as custom
images
◦ Multicast functionality is built-in
 Supports splitting clients into multiple speed groups
 Make sure to use 239.82.x.y for multicasting!!!!
◦ Supported as a Role on Server 2008 and 2008 R2
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To enable PXE boot:
 DHCP Option 066 = FQDN of WDS server
 DHCP Option 067 = boot\x86\wdsnbp.com
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First upload a WinPE boot image
Next, upload a Windows 7 or Server 2008/R2
boot image from installation media
Finally upload installation & custom images
Great step-by-step configuration guide here:
 http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc766320(WS.10).aspx
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WDS will only be capable of deploying to
computers with NICs that are recognized by
Win7 & 2008/R2 installation media
If your DHCP server serves multiple distinct
subnets or VLANs, additional router
configuration may be required
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Windows Deployment Services demo
◦ Booting into WinPE from WDS
◦ Quick overview of WDS MMC
 Multicast session creation
◦ Multicasting using WDS
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Sysprep
◦ Improved in Windows Vista & 7
◦ Still necessary!
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Storing multiple “images” in the same image
file provides advantages
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Deployment Image Servicing & Management
Tool
◦ Part of WAIK 7
◦ One-stop shop for image maintenance
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Add, remove & enumerate software packages
Add, remove & enumerate drivers
Enable or disable Windows features
Services 32 & 64-bit platforms
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Replaces Business Desktop Deployment 2007
Billed as Microsoft “Best Practice”
“Light-Touch” and “Zero-Touch”
End-to-end image creation and maintenance
Oemsetup.inf/Unattend.inf on steroids
Supports XP SP3, Vista, 2008, Win7 & R2
Nicely integrates with SCCM 2007
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http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd407791.aspx
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Keep in mind the new default partition scheme in
Windows 7 and 2008 R2 setup
◦ For Bitlocker compatibility, Windows Setup will by default
create a 100MB boot partition for system files, and a
larger partition for the OS and application files
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To avoid this, create a small partition manually,
and use the Extend feature to expand the
partition to the desired size
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Windows 7 Resource Kit – Deployment
◦ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=EE2A1D3888A9-43B3-95BC-7E962F0B6030&displaylang=en
◦ 332 pages of goodness from the Resource Kit and TechNet
Magazine
Thanks for attending today!
Feel free to e-mail questions about deployment
or anything Windows to
Jason.Huitt@colostate.edu
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